Mitigation of CO2 emissions in conjunction with the implementation of renewable energy generation and storage are widely recognized among the most pressing technological challenges of the twenty-first century that aim to address runaway climate scenarios. The UBC team in collaboration with its industry partner (AGORA Energy Inc) has introduced the concept of CO2-to-energy via its […]

A major challenge facing farmers is obtaining the nitrogen needed to support plant growth. Inoculation of legume crops with rhizobia, which supply plants with the required nitrogen, is a green alternative to environmentally hazardous nitrogen-fertilizers. However, rhizobia vary in their effectiveness, and the success of inoculants depends on their ability to outcompete native and poorly-effective […]

This partnership project with Hydro-Québec focuses on optimizing the integrated logistics network planning. The Hydro-Québec existing network has a building stock of average 37 years old, and is mainly based on the geographic and demographic needs of the 1980s. This project will adapt the network to the modern needs and prepare it for the future. […]

Dans les centrales hydroélectriques, les groupes turbine-alternateurs sont réparés et installés selon un calendrier de travaux. Compte tenu de leur taille, d’autres pièces doivent être déplacées pour accéder aux pièces à démonter, réparer ou à installer. Afin de déterminer le plan d’aménagement des pièces, plusieurs contraintes doivent être respectées : 1) le calendrier des travaux, […]

The objective of this study is to develop a district energy evaluation and plan for the Regional Municipality of Durham. This will be achieved by analyzing and assessing the current energy demand and response at the Region of Durham throughout all sectors, including commercial, institutional, industrial and residential sectors. There are numerous potential district energy […]

Lignocellulosic biomass has been widely accepted as a alternative and inexpensive substrate for biofuel production. The liquid hydrolysate generated from biomass contain sugars (such as glucose, xylose, fructose, arabinose and galactose) and inhibitors (such as furans, organic acids and phenols). However, inhibitors generally alters the sugar consumption, growth profile and metabolic activities of microorganisms. Hence, […]

Explosive eruptions on the sun’s surface eject charged particles that may travel the earth path. They cause disturbances in earth’s magnetic field and as a result, a low frequency current is induced in electrical power system transmission lines. The induced current increases operating temperature of power transformers. This overheating reduces lifetime of the transformer and […]

Thermo-photovoltaic (TPV) systems are optical heat engines that convert radiant heat to electricity using a photovoltaic cell. TPV is a highly promising technology that can potentially be used to generate electric power from any high-temperature heat source including concentrated solar radiation, industrial waste heat, heat from radioisotope decay, and fuel combustion systems. However, the performance […]

The excessive burning of fossil fuels into our atmosphere is causing our climate to change rapidly. This change in climate will have detrimental effects on home security, crop yield, energy security, and water scarcity. Many geopolitical and social pressures are present to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. As of now over 70% of electricity in […]

The world’s electricity grids need affordable batteries to store large amounts of energy and allow for increased renewable power sources like wind and solar. Instead of building new batteries from scratch, millions of used batteries from retired electric vehicles can be given a second life on the electricity grids for a lower price and a […]

The primary question to answer is broad: how can we identify, target, and convert potential customers in Canada, the US, and Mexico in a sustainable way? Our strategy must be designed to consider operational and resource constraints. The first objective would be to develop and execute a digital marketing communication strategy in an Agile way. […]

Vertical farming is an innovative urban agricultural practice that can efficiently use resources to supply food for communities, while high energy cost is becoming an economic bottleneck to long-term development and growth of the technology. The potential exists to capture and take advantage of by-products generated from the biological decay of the organics during the […]